What’s fueling Israel’s surge of settler violence

The quiet war: What’s fueling Israel’s surge of settler violence — and the lack of state response
The Conversation: While precise figures are elusive, United Nations estimates indicate that Jewish settlers have carried out around 2,000 attacks against Palestinians since the war in Gaza began.

How conservative Christians cracked a 70-year-old law*
The New York Times: The I.R.S. recently said that churches could endorse candidates from the pulpit, a shift from a longstanding interpretation of American nonprofit law.

Pursuing a deeper interpretation of the gospels: An interview with Elaine Pagels
Episcopal News Service: “I wanted to understand what it was about that Christian conversion experience that was so powerful,” Pagels said. “It was basically a spiritual search. That is what I think inspires most scholars who study the history of Christianity, whether they admit it or not.”

Eric Adams assembles religious leaders to bless his candidacy*
The New York Times: New Yorkers of various faiths heaped praise on the incumbent mayor, whose path to re-election appears steep, and compared him to biblical figures.

As Gaza starves, churches must lead on Palestinian recognition
Religion News Service: The protection of the Palestinian people is a matter of faith and conscience.
The Washington Post: Momentum builds toward Netanyahu’s plan to occupy all of Gaza*

Church membership may be declining, but many churchgoers are double-dosing
Religion News Service: Amid a collapse of loyalty to religious institutions, many churchgoers say they are attending multiple congregations on Sunday morning.

How Trump forced cuts at wealthy universities*
Insider Higher Ed: Frozen research funding, rising endowment taxes and other concerns have prompted some of the nation’s wealthiest universities to shed jobs despite their multibillion-dollar endowments.

Decolonizing knowledge: A call to reclaim Islam’s intellectual legacy
Al Jazeera: Muslims must move past superficial reforms to challenge Eurocentric frameworks and rediscover their own epistemology.

Federal judge blasts Republicans for trying to pass ‘obviously unconstitutional’ law
HuffPost: The Arkansas law would require the state’s public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every single classroom.

Ryan Burge joins the Danforth Center at Washington University
Religion News Service: A political scientist and former small-church pastor, Burge has long studied the intersection of religion and politics.

The U.S. Army Chaplain Corps is celebrating its 250th anniversary
NPR: Chaplain Doug Carver speaks about the role of the military chaplain — 250 years after George Washington advocated for chaplains during wartime.

 

Far-right Israeli minister prays at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, breaching decades-old agreement
CNN: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has previously been convicted for supporting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab racism in Israel, commemorated Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning, in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound.

 

The rise of Silicon Valley’s techno-religion*
The New York Times: The Rationalists, a community focused on the risks of artificial intelligence, regularly gather with tech figures and other like-minded people in a complex that covers much of a city block.

 

Why leisure matters for a good life, according to Aristotle
The Conversation: In an “achievement society,” even leisure risks becoming another kind of work. Rather than providing rest and meaning, leisure is often competitive, performative and exhausting.